hi all,


with the impending arrival of my new DL's : I'm rearranging my borders.

If you had to choose where to put your DL's, would you prefer morning sun, midday sun or afternoon sun?

All places get about 5 hours of sunlight.
I live in a maritieme climate: winters are rarely very cold and summers are mostly between 20C and 25C

First let me say that I am far from being an expert on daylilys. I personally prefer ,morning sun. Afternoon or late in the day sun doesn't do much because by that time most of the day's blooms are on there way out. Depending on where you live mid - day sun can be a real oven for some plants. This is what I've found where I live.

I can't be of any help, sorry! It seems you live in a wonderful place for DLs!
I only have midday and afternoon sun, so no choice, and now that the sun it's changing his route I have less hours of full sun

I agree with Chuck. But most of mine are in full sun all day or half of the day. Mine get at least 6 hours of sun daily.

The usual rule of thumb (and I don't know how this was determined) is that daylilies need a minimum of six hours of sun a day. The Hague is further north even than me here in Canada, and so the light intensity will be lower where you are. You would want the daylilies to get the most sun they possibly can. Can you determine the timing of mid-day versus afternoon sun? If the afternoon sun starts at 3 p.m., for example, then that would include the evening and you might be better going with mid-day.

there is a lot of overlap in the times and of course in winter there will be less sunhours because of the lower trajectory of the sun..
In summer my 'morning sun' is more or less from 9.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. , midday sun is from 11.30 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. and afternoon sun is from 2 a.m. - 7.30 p.m.

I've had DL's in all borders this summer, and they all did absolutely fabulous!
I have 2 DL's that I planted last year and 22 that I planted this April / May.
6 of the new ones didn't flower (very small spiders, not in 1 particular border), but I had a total of over 500 flowers from the others .
White Temptation is still blooming and 2 of the new ones are growing new scapes (rebloom)

I know that that's nothing compared to your gardens , but for a newbie like me more than 2 months of blooming DL's is quite an experience

Apart from them blooming and thriving again next year, I am worrying about, if we have cold nights in winter, with temps below 0, will the morning sun do damage to the (semi-)evergreens?



Mayo

Five hundred plus blooms sounds like a great start. The vast majority of mine are in full sun most of the day but i have several at the back of my house that get only morning sun one of which did better then i could ever imagine when i moved it from full sun to only morning sun last year..
Sounds like no matter where you plant none will be starving for sunlight. I would only suggest that if you have some that tend to lose their color faster than others that morning sun only might be best for those.
As for the semi-evergreens we have only total die back each year with winter temps at -10 to -20 at times.
Now that you have caught the dayliliy fever there is no cure so might as well make room and plan for more.

I am a rank amateur to the daylily world, but my best performers were in full sun for most of the day. I got my best bloomers from those that got the most sun. I have a samll bed that is under the shade of a pine tree for most of the day and half of those bloomed and the other half did not. Those in the bed with full sun bloomed like popcorn in a microwave. I moved a few from that shady bed to see how they perform in the full sun (afternoon until dusk) next spring.

too late Kevin... this is already a full-blown contamination

35 + 10 (different nurseries) are on their way to me and I'm growing 130 seedlings from LA seeds..


Mayo

Mayo - I hope you have LOTS of land to plant them on!

Becky, for the cultivars on their way to me: yes, for the seedlings... not yet!

They are still quite small at the moment, so I'm hoping to grow them in (big) pots on the patio until next spring/summer
(they are 3-4 seeds from the same crossing, so could share a pot)

In the mean time I'm looking into leasing an allotment
That, or annexing my mother's garden ..

Mayo

Good luck! Can you grow them on your roof? I have seen photos of folks doing that over in the UK!

haha, I háve been thinking about using the roof of my garage!
The only problem is that I'm afraid of heights... just imagining going up and down a ladder every day makes me queasy...


Mayo

Not to mention the fact that you could fall and get seriously hurt!!! I was partly joking about the roof .... only partly because I know there are gardeners that actually DO grow on their roofs!

It seems my garden isn't getting sufficient sun, then. In summer sun starts at 11:30 AM and gets down at 6:30 PM, but the first in the sun will be the first in the shade. the sun goes down behind the house in front of the garden

I've grown between 4 and 5 seedlings in what is known here as a "#5" nursery can (26 cm wide, 31 cm tall), and feel that I'm able to get a pretty good idea of what's worth keeping and what isn't. The plants will get a lot larger and more robust in a bed, but you'll be able to select on a basic level from a good-sized pot.

A month or two after sprouting, when the seedlings are around 12 cm tall, I'll gang 4 or 5 of them in a "#1" pot, and when they've grown enough roots to hold the rootball fairly intact, I'll plug them into a #2. (21 x 21 cm) They really appreciate the extra root room and the fresh layer of soil they get from incremental potting. When they get to the point where I think they'll bloom the next spring, (12-15 mm diameter at the crowns) I'll plug that rootball into a #5 in August. That way the potting soil is fresh for that first bloom.

(Every time you pot on, gently loosen the top of the rootball and space the crowns a little further apart.)

Seedlings grown like this require prudent but consistent fertilization in order to keep them moving along well. (Feeding should be balanced with the intensity & duration of light they're receiving.)

Summers are rainless here, and I've found that a saucer under the container really evens out growth, preventing intermittent dryness and "stalling".

Ken
East S.F. Bay Area
USDA Zone 9 (mediterranean)

hi Ken, ( @CaliFlowers )

thank you very much for this great information!!
I will have to measure my pots so I'll know which size to order
A #1 pot is a 1 gallon pot, right? How high are the ones you use?

You say that you put the seedlings in a #5 can in August ...Are they a year old by then, or did you sprout them in that same Spring?

Thank you!
Mayo

hi Ken, ( @CaliFlowers )

you said
"A month or two after sprouting, when the seedlings are around 12 cm tall" ..
How do you measure that? From the ground to the tip of the longest leaf?
Or from the ground to the point where the leafs are bowing down, or..?

Some of my seedlings that I put in a seedtray on 26th of July are already more that 20cm from ground to tip of the longest leaf...
(They were germinated about 12 days before that in a ziplock baggy with perlite, water and some hydrogen peroxide)


Should I already put them in a bigger pot??


thank you for your help!

Mayo

Mayo, with all those plants and seeds I am reminded of that old daylily song.

I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning,
With all those plants you sure are winning.
These plants need to go in the ground,
I hope that the time for it can be found.

(well maybe its not that well known)

Congrats and good luck